Happy Easter everybody! What a glad day it is to ponder the great gift of resurrection freely given to all people, and to contemplate the meaning of the atonement wherein all have opportunity to repent and come unto Christ. How fortunate we are!

Cambodia is a land of contrasts, and the following five photos depict some of that contrast during this Easter weekend.

We are beginning to pull out of our dry season with a few heavy rains in the last two weeks. This has brought out more color, as evidenced by this quick photo of a flowering tree common to the mission home neighborhood. It exemplifies the hope that is special to Easter.

Elders Thalman and Snyder standing in the courtyard of the notorious Toul Sleng prison wherein at least 20,000 were tortured and killed during the Khmer Rouge era 1975-79. The unassuming exterior of the old building hides the interior prison cells with traces of blood still on the walls and floors. Although emotionally difficult to view, it gave us peace to know that Christ's resurrection paves the way for the resurrection of the Toul Sleng victims along with all mankind.

One of many unidentified victims in Toul Sleng prison. We have not yet met a single native Cambodian whose life was not altered by those awful events—so many with blank pages in their family histories because their ancestors were killed.

Two trash handlers who do not yet know of the hope of Easter.

The mission’s irrepressible administrative assistant (Tay Phirum) who does know of the hope of Easter.

The Tonlé Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is unusual for two reasons: its flow changes direction twice a year, and the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. From November to May, Cambodia's dry season, the Tonlé Sap drains into the Mekong River at Phnom Penh. However, when the year's heavy rains begin in June, the Tonlé Sap backs up to form an enormous lake. For most of the year the lake is fairly small, around one meter deep and with an area of 2,700 square km. During the monsoon season, however, the Tonlé Sap river, which connects the lake with the Mekong river, reverses its flow. Water is pushed up from the Mekong into the lake, increasing its area to 16,000 square km and its depth to up to nine meters, flooding nearby fields and forests. The pulsing system with its large floodplain, rich biodiversity, and high annual sediment and nutrient fluxes from Mekong makes the Tonlé Sap one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world, supporting over three million people and providing over 75% of Cambodia's annual inland fish catch and 60% of Cambodians' protein intake. At the end of the rainy season, the flow reverses and the fish are carried downriver. The reversal of the Tonlé Sap river's flow also acts as a safety valve to prevent flooding further downstream. During the dry season the Tonlé Sap Lake provides around 50% of the flow to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. (Special thanks to Wikipedia for language and facts.)

The area is home to many ethnic Vietnamese and Cham communities, living in floating villages around the lake. The villages are largely self-sufficient with the lake providing the receptacle for sewage and their source of drinking, cooking and washing water.

Are you repulsed at the thought of mixing sewage and drinking water? Can you imagine the disease and accompanying mortality rates in these lake villages? Here is a photo of a “store” in one of the villages that shows the condition of the water.

Here is where the LDS Charities (LDSC) arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints comes in. LDSC missionaries are retired senior couples with life experience in project management. They have been working in Cambodia since 1994 and have designed and implemented projects related to sanitation and hygiene, clean water, immunizations, wheelchair acquisition/distribution, agriculture, and many others related to improving the self-sufficiency and quality of life for people in poverty.

During the last ten years, LDSC has completed 130 projects totaling over $4 million in Cambodia. This humanitarian outreach has helped thousands of Cambodians.

One of their recent projects was the construction and installation of a clean water facility for a village of 11,000 people on the Tonle Sap Lake. The first photo shows the platform containing the unit, and the second gives a glimpse of the unit.

The platform housing the clean water generating system, festooned with ribbon for the opening ceremony with government officials and those sponsoring the project. LDSC was a major contributor, and supervised project completion.

This gives just a glimpse of the clean water generating system inside the platform.

The last photos show two sets of humanitarian missionaries—Elder and Sister Curtis who have since finished their missions, and Elder and Sister Peterson who are currently serving. They are truly unsung heroes.

Elder and Sister Curtis finished their humanitarian missions in March, 2011. They were featured in the 2010 LDS documentary, "Seeds of Faith", about humanitarian projects in Cambodia. The Curtis' are pictured here with the Kim Sang family at the airport. Loved by all who know them, they had a crowd of well-wishers at the airport to see them off.

While walking across jagged concrete to watch her favorite orphanage kids play soccer six weeks ago, Sister Peterson tripped and broke her left leg and right foot. Indomitable by nature, she refused to leave her humanitarian mission. She fielded phone calls and coordinated as much as she could from their apartment, while Elder Peterson stayed on the trail of project management. Together, they have performed miracles for many people. They are due to finish their mission in August. (She is now up and walking again!)

Elder Snyder with two friends, Cambodia Service Center Manager Kim Sang and Administrative Assistant to the President Tay Phirum, standing on the grounds where Cambodia was dedicated in 1996 by President Hinckley. The grounds are located on the back side of the Cambodiana Hotel near the Tonle Sap River. We were scouting the area in preparation for an upcoming visit by Church historians.

Elders (L to R) Long, Matthews and Murdock recently completed their two-year missions with unfailing enthusiasm for serving the Lord. Think what it would mean for American society if all young men voluntarily spent two years in unpaid service while not only learning foreign languages and cultures, but acquiring skills in goal setting, planning, organization, self-discipline and working with and serving people.

Sister Camille Harlan (2nd from left) just completed her mission and her parents came to spend a few days in Cambodia prior to her departure. Fluent in Vietnamese, her ready smile and enthusiasm captured the hearts of many. She is shown here with a newly-arrived Viet-speaking missionary, Sister Bayles, and two missionaries nearing the end of their full-time service, Sister Vo and Elder Son. Sister Harlan is a violinist who learned how to play the piano on her mission so more branches could have music for sacrament meeting. Concidentally (?) Sister Bayles also plays the piano.